| Mikey Palmice | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | "46 Long" (episode 1.02) |
| Last appearance | "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano" (episode 1.13) (murdered) and "The Test Dream" (episode 5.11) (dream sequence) |
| Created by | David Chase |
| Portrayed by | Al Sapienza |
| Information | |
| Aliases | "Grab Bag" "Mikey P" "Mike" |
| Gender | Male |
| Title | Soldier/Consigliere |
| Family | DiMeo Crime Family, Junior Soprano's crew |
| Spouse(s) | JoJo Palmice (wife) |
| Children | Michael Palmice Jr. (son) Francis Albert Palmice (son) |
Michael "Mikey Grab Bag" Palmice (pronounced Pal-me-see), played by Al Sapienza, was a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos.
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Palmice starts out as a soldier in Corrado "Junior" Soprano's crew as his driver and bodyguard. After Jackie Aprile dies, Junior becomes boss, and Palmice is promoted to consigliere.[1] He is a very loyal, obsequious minion and a suck up to Junior, and is very respectful and kind to those whom he deems worthy; when confronted by people he dislikes or who are a threat to Junior, however, he reveals his true nature — that of a violent, depraved sociopath. He hates Tony Soprano, and Tony's feelings toward Palmice are mutual. Tony often teases him with implicit, insulting jokes and one liners such as referring to him as having "fuck-face-itus"; he is one of Tony's first, close enemies on the show. Palmice's wife is named JoJo and he has two sons, Michael Jr. and Francis Albert. Janice mentioned how Michael Jr. was going through his teenage years on Ritalin. He is usually seen driving Junior's black 1995 Lincoln Town Car.
When acting boss Jackie Aprile is diagnosed with cancer and it is apparent he is going to die, Junior is quick to act to ensure that he becomes boss. Palmice wants to take care of any opposition to Junior Soprano, including Tony Soprano and Christopher Moltisanti. He works alongside his friend, Chucky Signore, another soldier in Junior's crew. Palmice advises Junior to take care of business and not allow anyone to step over him. He kills Brendan Filone on Junior's orders after Brendan and Christopher hijack trucks belonging to a firm supposedly under Junior's "protection",[2] then contracts two Russians to perform a mock execution on Christopher. Christopher is enraged and wants to kill Palmice himself, but he is warned by Tony not to, because Palmice is a made man and Christopher, at the time, was not. Tony instead beats Palmice severely using a staple gun, in retaliation for the hit and for Christopher's mock execution.[3]
Junior discovers his long-time tailor's teenage grandson has killed himself by jumping off Patterson Falls bridge after he took some ecstasy sold to him by Rusty Irish, who just happened to be one of Larry Barese's top earners. He orders Palmice to have Rusty killed to prevent him from selling any more drugs to kids. Palmice and an associate respond by throwing Rusty off the same bridge the boy fell off of, which doesn't sit well with the caporegimes, especially Larry.
Subsequently, in a meeting, Larry Barese, Raymond Curto, and Jimmy Altieri complain to Tony about Junior and Palmice's behavior. After word gets out that Tony's own mother wants him dead, an associate named Donnie Paduana, organizes a hit on Tony. Tony, along with Junior's other capos, were meeting New York underboss Johnny Sack behind Junior's back at the Green Grove Retirement Community and Junior felt they were conspiring against him. After being given the task, Donnie's contract killers fail to fulfill the job, as there are too many witnesses. At a later meeting, Palmice shoots Donnie in the latter's car. Palmice then informs his wife about the plan to kill Tony, and tells her that it means much more money for them.[4]
Tony and other caporegimes such as Ray Curto and Larry Barese describe Palmice as having been "a disease" since childhood. Junior sets the order in motion the second time around, but it doesn't work since Tony survives the assassination attempt and manages to kill one of his assailants. Tony later decides to get rid of both Chucky and Mikey in order to cut Junior's ability to attempt another hit on him. Tony catches Chucky off guard at the marina and executes him. Palmice is then walking out of his home getting ready to jog and arguing with his wife, his last words to his wife was "Go take a midol!", he is then killed after Chris and Paulie Gualtieri chase him down while he is jogging, leaving his dead body in the forest.[5]
In the episode "From Where to Eternity", when Christoper is revived after being pronounced clinically dead from an assassination attempt, he tells Paulie and Tony of a trip he made to hell, where he saw Brendan Filone and Mikey Palmice in an Irish bar and they had a message for Tony and Paulie, "Three o'clock". While not bothering Tony, this greatly upsets Paulie, who thinks Chris went to purgatory. Paulie visits a psychic who says he can "communicate" with dead people, including Paulie's victims, giving information that he couldn't have known. Palmice is apparently one of the dead people as the psychic says that one of the spirits mentioned poison ivy and wanted to know if it still itched. This is a reference to Palmice's death scene where Paulie is infected by poison ivy while chasing Palmice through the deep woods. How the psychic knew such details is left ambiguous.
In "Whoever Did This", Tony and Christoper take Ralph Cifaretto's severed head to be buried in Palmice's hospitalized father's farm in Upstate New York.
Al Sapienza's last appearance as Mikey Palmice was in the fifth season episode "The Test Dream". Tony dreams he is riding in the backseat of his late father "Johnny Boy" Soprano's 1959 Cadillac Eldorado. Other deceased Soprano crime family members present include Big Pussy Bonpensiero, Ralph Cifaretto, Richie Aprile, and Gigi Cestone. When Tony looks at Palmice and tells him he knows he's dreaming, Palmice simply replies, "I got no opinion. One way or another."
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